Imperial College London is the biggest beneficiary of Atomic Weapons Establishment funding, with £7.7m allocated between 2010 and July 2012. Photograph: Alamy

Britain's secretive nuclear weapons research organisation gives over £8m a year in research funding to more than 50 universities, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), a private consortium that runs nuclear plants at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), puts most of the money into five of the UK's leading universities with which it has formed "strategic alliances".

They are Imperial College in London and the universities of Cambridge, Bristol, Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh and Cranfield in Bedfordshire and Wiltshire. The money helps fund research into plasma physics, high-performance computing, materials science and hydrodynamics, all of which are important for designing and making nuclear weapons.

The report, which is being launched on Wednesday at University College London, claims to be the first to expose the extent of AWE's links with universities and is based on responses to freedom of information requests from the MoD and universities.

It is being published by two groups campaigning for nuclear disarmament, Nuclear Information Service (NIS) and Medact, an NGO made up of health professionals. The groups say much of the research is aimed at maintaining and developing the UK's nuclear weapons programme. Universities that have benefited from the funding say it supports mainly blue-skies research or applications such as ensuring the safety of the UK's nuclear weapons stockpile.

"Work which will allow the UK to retain and develop its nuclear weapons over the long term has no place on the campus," said NIS director, Pete Wilkinson. "AWE values its academic outreach programme as much for the acceptance it buys for AWE's own scientists in reputable academic circles as for its scientific findings."

He urged universities and researchers to adopt a more ethical and transparent approach to working with AWE. "Our report aims to warn them of the risks of being seduced into murky waters by the lure of AWE's cash," he said.

According to Freedom of Information responses from the MoD, Imperial College has received the most funding from AWE, with £7.7m allocated between 2010 and July 2012. Over the same period, £3.6m went to Cranfield, nearly £2m to Cambridge, £1.3m to Bristol and £708,000 to Heriot-Watt.

AWE funds six professorships, named after its first director, Sir William Penney, at five universities. Two are at Cranfield, one at Cambridge, one at Bristol, one at Heriot-Watt and one at the University of Edinburgh.

A spokeswoman for AWE said: "The UK government has made clear its policy on maintaining the nuclear deterrent. AWE's technical outreach programme supports this and follows this declared government policy.

"Through AWE's links with institutions such as universities, professional bodies and government agencies, we can build upon and share knowledge for mutual benefit. In implementing the programme, we abide by the requirements of current UK legislation under the regulatory supervision of the ONR, EA and DNSR [Office for Nuclear Regulation, Environment Agency and Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator]. All our actions take place within that framework.

"All AWE suppliers, including universities, are required to comply with AWE's code of ethics."

A spokesman for the University of Cambridge pointed out that its Cavendish Laboratory had been linked to AWE for more than 30 years. "Everything we do with them is basic research to assist the AWE in its roles of ensuring the safety of the nuclear armament stockpile and as the UN agency responsible for upholding the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty," he said.

According to Imperial College, the "majority" of its funding from AWE was "strongly blue skies in nature". A college spokesman said: "AWE-funded research at Imperial leads to understanding and applications that contribute significantly to the public good, including a better understanding of earthquakes, extreme weather events and the damage caused to people by explosions and blasts."